SEOUL , South Korea -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- The last bit of news I heard before boarding a plane to Seoul a few days ago was that North Korea had just fired 100 artillery shells into the sea near the border with South Korea .

Disturbing news from North Korea comes just as often as stories that make us laugh in disbelief . The many quirky , mystifying , baffling developments in Pyongyang make its young ruler , Kim Jung Un , an irresistible target for comedians .

It was hard to suppress a laugh , for example , when North Korea severely declared that an upcoming satirical Hollywood movie constituted `` an act of war '' and filed an official complaint with the United Nations .

Those are two sides of North Korea -- deliberately frightening and inadvertently comical . Then there 's a third side -- the part that makes us gasp in horror .

A yearlong investigation conducted by the United Nations found that North Korea is a country whose depth of brutality `` does not have any parallel in the contemporary world . ''

According to the report , North Korea engages in murder , torture , slavery and mass starvation to terrorize the population into submission . Stories from refugees who have escaped from North Korea are a chilling reminder that the regime is not just a military threat , it is causing a terrible humanitarian crisis .

North Korea is a Riddle Kingdom that is simultaneously threatening , bizarre and brutal . The regime 's unpredictability is one of the factors that allow a small , impoverished state , unable to feed its own people , to stand toe to toe with much more powerful rivals .

It is those random , capricious , frequently dangerous behaviors that allow fragile , brittle , bankrupt North Korea to force its dazzlingly successful neighbor , South Korea , to maintain a constant state of alert , to wonder if its capital city can survive an attack across a border that lies just 35 miles away .

With its conventional and nuclear arsenals , North Korea manages to keep the international community , including the United States , scrambling for an approach that might neutralize the danger and send a lifeline to the victims of the cruel regime .

It 's tempting to ignore North Korea 's antics as bluster , as empty threats . But Pyongyang has launched deadly attacks . For example , in 2010 , it bombed a South Korean island about 70 miles from Seoul , killing four people . It may also have launched a torpedo that same year which sank a South Korean navy ship , killing 46 . In 2013 , the North detonated a nuclear device and brazenly threatened to launch a `` pre-emptive nuclear attack '' against the U.S. . A fourth nuclear test could be imminent .

After the most recent escalation , South Korean President Park Geun-hye spoke to military leaders and told them to prepare to retaliate . She described Pyongyang as so erratic that you can not see `` even an inch ahead . ''

The news from North Korea can be so disconcerting that spoofs and rumors regularly make it into the news and social media as if they were fact . Ahead of the World Cup finals a satirical video purportedly showing a North Korean newscast declaring the North 's team a finalist for the World Cup went viral , repeated as if it were true , as just another amusing moment from Pyongyang .

And , why not ? Truth and fiction are hard to tell apart .

Pyongyang has created its own version of the world for domestic consumption . North Korean government researchers announced their country is the second happiest in the world -- second only to China . The late ruler , Kim Jung Il , was reported to have bowled a perfect game the first time he set foot on a bowling alley . He was also supposedly the world 's best golfer .

The official biography of the country 's rulers has looked like something out of a Marvel Comics book story . No official biography of the current Kim has been released , other than an account that says he was `` born in heaven . '' That would fit with his father , Kim Jong Il 's official story , which claims he was born under a double rainbow with the seasons spontaneously changing and a new star appearing in the sky for the occasion .

The three generations of Kim men who have ruled the North are painted as supernatural to the local population . Abroad , they are cartoonish figures , whose behavior can leave diplomats and strategists scratching their heads .

Just a few months ago , the government published a gasp-inducing racist tirade against President Barack Obama , calling him a `` clown '' who `` does not even have the basic appearance of a human being . '' It suggested he live with monkeys in a zoo . Racism , a myth of racial superiority , is a striking feature of the culture promoted by the regime .

The authorities have created their own reality , brainwashed the population to keep the state functioning and the regime secure . To anyone who commits what the government deems an infraction , the punishment is inconceivably harsh .

It 's all part of the riddle that keeps the world guessing , off-balance and nervous . By firing missiles , threatening neighbors and acting erratically , North Korea portrays itself as mysterious and volatile , and even that perception magnifies its ability to create fear , adding to its power and helping keep the despotic regime in control .

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North Korea had fired artillery shells into the sea near the border with South Korea

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Frida Ghitis : North Korea is simultaneously threatening , bizarre and brutal

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She says it 's tempting to ignore North Korea 's antics as bluster , as empty threats

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Ghitis : But by firing missiles , threatening neighbors , it is volatile and dangerous